It may well be that adolescent and post-adolescent human males are the absolute dumbest things on the planet. Far below rocks and paramecium in their analytical abilities reside these beings blissfully unaware of the scope of their lack of knowledge. I was their king. In consideration of the USAs observance of Veterans Day, I, and many others, have taken to putting up our baby pictures as our profile pictures. The baby picture is the photo that they take of you in your dress uniform when you graduate from any of the military boot camps so as to become a full fledged member of the Army, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard or, as in my case, the United States Navy. That picture of me would be circa early December 1973. I was about 5 months into being 18 years of age and could not be convinced that I was not a full grown man with all the knowledge of the world that anyone needed. Yea, that ignored the fact that I grew 3 in the years after that photo was taken. It ignored the fact that 10 years after that photo I had gained 70 pounds or so and still looked skinny. (I have gotten past that now) It ignored the fact that up until that time I had spent the overwhelming majority of my time on the planet in one small neighborhood and when not in that neighborhood, I was in very tightly controlled circumstances i.e. church, school, church events, or school events. But to hear me tell it when that picture was taken, I was ten feet tall and bullet proof. Yep, I was an idiot. The pertinent thing though, is that though I did not know it, in that I was completely unremarkable. Our numbers were legion. Though I fought it with every fiber of my being, eventually reality set in and I learned some stuff. Even before I had re-enlisted the first time, the Universe had conspired to teach me that I did not actually know everything. There are to this day, frequent lessons made available to me that I am in fact mortal and more than pervious to pain. The fact that I do not want or perceive an ongoing need for those lessons does not appear to impress the Universe and certainly doesnt seem to have diminished Her zeal for sending said lessons my way. That kid in the picture who looks all of 12 years of age from this distance, that ignorant trusting idiot, was able to voluntarily join the military in time of war. As a matter of fact, without that uniformed moron and his ilk, wars would be a lot more scarce. The fabled powers that be need me and those like me because everyone else intuitively understands that being cannon fodder is a bad thing. Everyone else gets that there are those in positions of political influence that simply do not have their best interests at heart. It is those young fools unaware of, among other things, their real potential who get sent by every nation to futilitys proving ground wherein we fertilize it with our sweat, blood, and bodies. Even though I sometimes find it hard to believe that I was indeed that kid in the picture, I want you to know that I was. I want you to look around the social media sites and see all the pictures of those youngsters and know that that is who you send to war. I want you to know how little we know and understand when we look like that. I want you to know how much we trust that you are doing your jobs as citizens, being critical of such information you are given, and that is what makes us comfortable doing your bidding, as expressed by the civilian leadership of the nation. I do not need or want you to look back. I do not need or desire verbal appreciation for what I did largely out of ignorance. What I need is for you to live up to the trust that those whose baby pictures are a couple of years old, a couple of months old or, yet to be taken - I need you to live up to the trust that has been bestowed upon you. I need you to not waste the life, limb, psyche or time of a single young man or woman just because you can. I need you to look past the platitudes, past the bumper stickers, past the manufactured outrage, past the manipulative efforts and ensure that your representatives, the civilian leadership of the military and the nation are indeed working in the best interests of those who currently look as young as I do in that picture and those who recently did. Dont thank me. Protect them. Appropriately honor their sacrifice. Give them the care and support that they need and deserve. That will be thanks enough. That is the way you honor veterans, by showing them that when they went to class, you learned the lesson.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 20:48:16 +0000